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Where is the best placement position and what are my best speaker options, given that I have to sit at the back wall of my living/viewing area due to room restrictions? Dipoles... or should I be using direct radiating speakers in this situation?

I can use in walls but it is a finished room so retrofit only...or floor standers of course.

The local IMAX theater puts the surround channels up high in the corners of the back wall facing down toward the listener. I'm thinking monopoles my be better in my situation. I would like to know if anyone else has a similar room setup or professional opinion to share.

I'm concerned that the rears will just project over my head and imaging will be lost.

As recommended by Dolby, surrounds should be directly to the sides (90 degrees) or slightly behind (110 degrees) and 2-3 feet above the listener. Since behind isn't an option, directly to the side will be your only choice.

Both of the home theaters I have set up have been in shared-use rooms where I could not move the primary listening position off the back wall. In both, I used in-wall speakers in the ceiling - pointing straight down directly to the sides of the primary listening position about 18" from the back wall. Some sound makes it directly to the listener but most of the sound reflects off the back wall / side wall making the speaker harder to locate and giving a more diffuse sound. I have been happy with the results - my current room uses in-wall speakers that have built-in enclosures (Def Tech UIW-RSSII) so none of the sound goes into the attic and they sound great.

Dipoles must be placed on the side wall directly to the side - they also work by bouncing sound off walls - but being too close to the back wall may make them sound strange - I'm not a fan of them anyway so I would suggest trying some before you are committed to keeping them.

If using direct radiators you can move them forward just a little from the back wall and mount them at the recommended height - if you have to mount them at the top of the wall you can angle them down so they point at a location a couple feet above your head so you don't get too much direct sound that makes the speakers too easy to locate.

Well thanks for the advice.
My concern is that it's not really possible to audition in-walls and discovering how poor my choice was after they are cut into the wall.....ugh.
I also can't really play with the placement of them realistically as I have very high ceilings and moving them from ladder to ladder would be logistically hard to say the least

At least now I have a pair of options to consider so thanks for that....

What about a pair of floor standing omnis on either side of the seating area...is that too radical an idea?

Just went through similar situation. I'm near the back wall, but have a few feet to work with. The speakers to my right & left sounding good but we're getting on my nerves being in the way some. Last night I used the mounts on the link below & was surprised how quality/functional they are for such a low price. Used a protractor to measure 110 degrees (Dolby recommends 90-110 for surrond) from my seating position and put them 2.5 feet above my ear. Measure the additional 20 degreeso with a free app, it's not as far as I thought it'd be They sound really good in the limited time I've had to listen. The height brings an element that wasn't previously there that I enjoy. The mounts rotate 270 degrees & tilt 10 or 15 degrees (can't recall exact but the tilt allows you just enough to place them directly at the angle where they're squared to your ears. Also, it looks 20 times better & it's nice having 2 channels completely out of the way.

Well I have been reading up on Omnis and it seems that putting them too near a back wall (or in a back corner as I had intended) is a no-no. Reflections are too severe causing unpleasant wave cancellation and a "hollowing out" of the sound.

It looks like dipoles at the sides are the winner here. Now the challenge will be to find something very unobtrusive since in-wall is not possible. I think I need floor standers. I appreciate that link to the wall mounts but I only have a wall on the left. The right side is too long a distance to use the side wall.

Anyone know of any good choices with high WAF? White color would be best. Could be either tall floor standers or bookshelf speakers on stands

One option is to mount monopoles in the top corners aimed straight down at the floor corners. This effective "paints" the entire corner intersection of the two walls with sound making it diffuse yet with sense of it coming from above, which Dolby endorses and of course is true in an actual movie theater.

In A/V reproduction accuracy, there is no concept of "accounting for taste". We don't "pick" the level of bass, etc., any more than we pick the ending of a play. High fidelity means an unmodified, neutral, exact copy (or "reproduction") of the original artist's tonal balance, timing, dynamics, etc..